


A Fox's Homecoming

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Fox Paws [5]
Category: Changeling: the Dreaming, Dungeons & Dragons - Fandom, Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Genre: Crossover, Dimension Travel, Fauns & Satyrs, Gen, Homecoming, Kitsune, Shapeshifting, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-12
Updated: 2006-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-09 09:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A kitsune returns to her home universe to discover just how much has changed in her absence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fox's Homecoming

A motley, ragtag band consisting of two foxes, a werewolf, a werecat, and a half-elf were heading back to Torn Elkandu after an adventure.

"Didn't you say we could visit your home next?" the yellow kitsune Goldentail piped up cheerfully, bouncing down the path.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that, actually," the other fox Fantasia grinned, following a little more sedately with her tails swaying leisurely from side to side. "There's all sorts of things there, and I wouldn't mind catching up with some people. And my email, I suppose." She made a face, tongue sticking out in distaste at the idea.

The panther, Thorn, said, "Well, I suppose that could be something to do..." She didn't sound amazingly enthusiastic. "So long as there's no dragons constantly trying to eat us or molten lava to cross or anything like that."

"Oh, there's dragons, but they're pretty rare," Fantasia replied. "And mostly you only have to worry about the ones that you'd run across in the fantasy realm anyway. The ones who popped out of the woodwork after the Awakening tend more toward politics and that sort of thing..." She grinned. "Okay, so that makes em sound evil, but at least they're not trying to _eat_ anyone."

"Um.. Right," Thorn said. "What about you, Shenzel?"

Shenzel, the werewolf, said, "I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing what sort of trouble the kids have been getting into lately..."

"Last I saw, the CoGs were doing just fine," Fantasia smiled. "Things turned around for them a bit after Unicorn and Blackie decided to 'get with the program'," she gave the phrase a more masculine note, as though mimicking someone, then giggled. "It'll be good to see what's been going on since I left, it seemed like I spent _forever_ following Jezzy-bear through the Deep Umbra and Abyss to get here."

They turned back toward the portal. The half-elf Morin said, "Well, that sounds fun. Let's go. I think."

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Fantasia tossed out cheerfully. "And don't forget the leeches or any of the million other things that go bump in the night or day."

She headed for the portal with an increasingly energetic step, the prospect bringing a lightness of heart that comes from the soul-deep connection to _home_.

"Ah," Morin said, "Sounds like a good time to practice 'running away'."

Upon reaching the portal, they proceeded to file through back to Torn Elkandu. The pale blue sun filtered through the dim leaves of the trees around the gardens.

"That is always a good skill to keep practiced in," Fantasia nodded emphatically. "Of course it pays to know how to dodge and duck for cover, too, and having a few B&E skills is always useful..." She hmmed, thinking of other talents that were useful as they work their way outward along the garden paths.

"So how do we get there?" Thorn asked. "Is there a portal or will we have to use the Nexus?"

"The Nexus is about all I can think of without taking a looooong road," Fantasia replied, then grinned. "And we'd better keep Morin safe and sound for the return trip."

Thorn gave a nod and headed down to Earth's Road and toward the Nexus from there. "Well, you know where we're going, and more recently than Shenzel, so you'd best lead the way I suppose."

"Oh yeah," Fantasia said, "I know just the place to have us dropped off, guaranteed to be quiet and won't bug anyone."

She didn't mention that it was the heart of a Glass Walker caern in the city, dedicated to the totem O' Mighty Dollah... a bank vault. But hey, what they didn't know would hurt them! She grinned at the thought and added. "Just a note, they're not as used to weirdness back there."

As if to emphasize the point, she shifted back to her human form.

Thorn said, "I'm afraid that while I can lose the fur, I can't get rid of the pointy ears."

Morin said, "Me either."

Goldentail said, "I can't even do that much."

Fantasia chuckled. "No worries on the pointy ears, there's the occasional elf running around, you'll probably only have to fend off the occasional raving fangoy. The _real_ ones to keep an eye out for are the old-timers who would want to drag you off to a Trekkie convention." She grinned, then looked thoughtfully at Goldy. "Hum..." then shrugged, "If you don't want to disguise with illusion, they'll just have to deal!"

Goldentail giggled and wiggled her tails enthusiastically. "Let's go!" She pounced into the Nexus, bumping into a four-foot tall rat with a glowing necklace who just beamed in in the process.

Fantasia hopped up with equal enthusiasm and designated the destination for the others to follow, then vanished. When they emerged, it was in a bare room with rows and rows of small metal doors built into the walls and a massive slab of alloy at either end that mark the exit as well as the main bank vault itself. Pretty bland, but what wasn't was the rather nasty-looking weapon that dropped out of a turret and pointed at them.

"Right, right!" she smirked and walked over to a keypad near the outer door to punch in a long series of characters on the alphanumeric board. The computer chewed on the input for a moment and she held her breath, then the cannon retreats silently into the ceiling.

Morin coughed slightly and glanced about. "Uh. Nice place? I think?"

"Oh you have no idea!" Fantasia bubbled.

The same light they'd seen in her eyes back at the scene of looting sparked to life as she looked around at all the safe-deposit boxes. She dismissed the momentary surge of Glass Walker greed, and motioned them over as she input another code that slowly opened the thick outer door with a smooth hum of hydraulics.

"I'm sure the wise guys are already on the way." She grinned. "But having the alarm disabled should mean they'll look before shooting. Maybe..." She donned a deliberately non-reassuring expression at that, though she knew they'd be just fine. The boys were _family_ , after all.

Morin coughed again and glanced about for something to duck behind in case they did decide to shoot at them.

Goldentail bounced around saying, "Ooh. Who are we gonna meet?"

"Awww..." Fantasia looked a little disappointed as they left the vault and there wasn't a hint of anyone waiting to greet them, guns leveled or otherwise, she sniffled melodramatically. "Now I feel unwanted..."

They were in the back of a bank, the machinery to sort and count various currencies was currently still and quiet beneath the bright fluorescent lighting. A faintly metallic clicking was heard after a moment, though.

"Now I wouldn't say that," a voice drawled from around the corner of the hall leading out of the room, just before a fully-chromed werewolf stepped around and focuses its cybernetic eyes on them. It stood there a moment, giving a chance for the visitors to realize the type of construction Fantasia had recently drawn reference from, then he grinned. "Just look what the cat dragged in."

"Cat? I'll show you a cat!" Fantasia snorted, then her expression brightened as recognition kicks in, "Six? That you?"

"Got it in one, kiddo," he said, settling back on metallic haunches with a whine of power, and looked over the group. "So who do we have here?"

"Hi!" Goldentail said, completely unfased by his appearance, and bounced over, tails swishing about excitedly. "I'm Goldentail!"

Sixshooter looked her over. "Aw hell, another fox? What's this world coming to?" He groaned in exasperation, then chuckled. "Pleased to meet ya, just try not to mix it up with the Ahrouns, k?"

Goldentail giggled and said, "Oh, and they're Thorn, Morin, and Shenzel," she said, pointing toward them. Thorn waved, strange expression on her face.

"I only hope the rest of ya won't be as much of a pain in the tail as this one," Peacemaker said.

He jerked a clawed thumb at Fantasia and earned an indignant, but not really denying, "Hey!"

He chuckled, noticing the expression. "What's up? I don't have anything going at the moment, even a don gets a break now and again, so I can answer some questions for visitors."

Fantasia was smirking up until one of the things he said made her blink and look at him in frank disbelief.

Thorn said, "No, I'm quite certain I'm not as much a pain in the tail considering all the trouble she's dragged me into lately..."

Fantasia hmphed indignantly as Peacemaker laughed. "You too, eh?" he said. "Damn if it hasn't been quieter the last sixty years since she disappeared without a word. Tsk, no damn sense of responsibility in kids these days."

She looked startled again, blinking, "Sixty years?" then shook herself, "You're pulling my tails! I _know_ it now, if the bit about _you_ being Don didn't tip me off already! Hah, hah!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

Peacemaker, on the other hand, shook his head. "No joke, though it _would_ be a pretty good one to pull over on you for all the shit you've done over the years. Check it out for yourself." He moved off to the side, gesturing past to the hall with one set of razored claws. "Welcome back, Fox van Winkle. Oh yeah, and Gizmo says he wants your tail in the shop soonest."

Shenzel commented, "Heh, and I thought my being gone since 1847 was bad..."

Thorn snickered softly.

Peacemaker chuckled and didn't say a word to that, instead working his way around them to slip into the vault and interface with the totem spirit for a bit. Fantasia still didn't look really convinced, but smirked and gestured them on.

"I'll believe it when I see it. And believe me, 1847 is a lot longer than I've been gone." She headed down the hall and out through the familiar, but oddly changed ways of the bank.

Shenzel replied, "Yeah, but I thought I'd been gone a lot longer, considering how long I spent on Daresa..."

A security guard in a dark blue uniform looked up from a basketball game he was watching on a monitor at his desk and buzzed them out. It was twilight outside, and the traffic was surprisingly light on the street with only the occasional pedestrian and hover car humming across smooth plascrete. The small changes were nagging enough, but the looming weight of metal some forty or so stories above them settled it for Fantasia.

The entire city was nestled under a roof, and a faint shimmer could be seen in the distance that dimmed the view of the world beyond. Numerous massive pillars rose here and there like skyscrapers to support the construction, and a cool, fresh breeze blew.

Morin went and looked around and said hesitantly, "Nice place?"

"Uhh," Fantasia looked around, a little dazed. "Maybe I'm not going to be such a great native guide."

There'd been talk about something like this way back, at least among some of the Glass Walkers, but even they hadn't really thought that they'd have the ability to do such a monumental project for hundreds of years.

"I don't even know what _else_ has changed," she said, sounding a bit lost.

Shenzel said, "So what year is it now I wonder?"

Goldentail was just staring at everything in sight wide-eyed and going, "Ooooh."

"I left in 2070," Fantasia replied. "So if he was right that'd make this somewhere around 2130. Uhhh, just... wow."

She seemed to be recovering from the shock, enough to start looking at things with a glint of real interest, and a strange tree at the corner caught her attention. She darted off to take a look at the thing, frowning at the way they'd obviously broken up the usual city routine to put the thing's roots below concrete. The truly odd thing about it was noticed as its trunk suddenly contracted with a sighing sound and the faint breeze they'd felt before washed gently over them from its lush foliage.

"What in the...."

Morin said, "What is it?" and peered over in the direction she was looking.

Fantasia touched the tree, looking at it strangely as she felt subtle movement passing through it, then just shook her head. "No clue," she replied. "They've been up to some seriously _weird_ stuff in my absence. Now, the question is where to start catching up!"

"How about... over there?" Morin said, crossing his arms and pointing in opposite directions.

Goldentail giggled.

Shenzel said, "I suppose I'll have to figure out where my own people are and what they're up to..."

Fantasia grinned. "Oh _you're_ a big help." She chuckled and looked to Shenzel as she dug a cell phone from a pocket of her pack. "Most of my speed dials are probably useless now, but I'm sure I can get a hold of the Sept of Dreams or one of the CoG operations in the city, if you want. The sept is the big one here... I wonder if Grant's still there?"

"Well, don't ask me, I'm apparently a few centuries out of the loop," Shenzel replied with a smirk. "And not like this lupus would have known what to do with one of those things if they had even been invented by that point anyway."

"Hey, there's a lot to be said for opposable thumbs, at least that's what Ripper always said." Fantasia chuckled and flipped it open, then toggled a display to check the numbers still valid. "Yeah, the sept's still good, and... the Urquart Foundation. Geez, Malcolm musta been _busy_. Well anyway, you want general or specific? Malcolm was CoG, even if he hooked up with a Simba." She snorted. "Whoever's still there should be able to get you up to speed on what the Cogs have been up to, or head up to the sept in Arcadia National and get a good look at things overall. Which sounds better?"

Shenzel looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language. Or at least that most of the words made sense but their arrangement didn't. "Don't look at me..."

"Right, the sept it is." Fantasia grinned as she hit the speed dial. "From what I remember, they had a special arrangement just for dealing with fuzzbutts." The phone rang three times before it was answered and she carried on an animated conversation for a couple minutes, which made even less sense than usual since they heard only half of it and that was cryptic enough. "Car on the way," she said, closing the phone with a grin.

Shenzel chuckled. "Fair enough," she said.

Morin said, "Where's the nearest ice cream parlor, anyway? I'm hungry."

Thorn said, "You're going to get fat if you eat nothing but ice cream."

Morin said, "Have you ever seen a fat elf?"

Thorn said, "You're only a half-elf."

Morin said, "Whatever."

"Lemme check," Fantasia replied and did a quick search on the mobile device, then muttered, "Now where was this place when _I_ was hanging around the caern? Right over there," she said, pointing down the street. "One over, two down... and don't worry, there's plenty of ways to work off the calories."

She grinned and walks off in the indicated direction to leave them to decide her meaning on that. The lower city's construction was much as it had been at the end of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, deliberately, a sort of 'historical preserve', though they saw more of the breathing trees along the way to lend an odd aspect to the setting.

Goldentail said, "Oh! Ice cream!" She proceeded to bounce off in that direction. Perhaps feeding her too much sugar would probably not be a good idea. Thorn and Shenzel looked to one another, shrugged, and follow for lack of knowing what else to do.

Fantasia chuckled, ambling along, and glanced at Shenzel. "And don't worry, they'll find us easy enough, I sent em the GPS locator for my cell so they can track us to the shop." She looked over at Thorn. "What about you? Anything you want to see or do? There's a local gathering of Bastet in the Intruda, if that sounds interesting, or I'm sure we can scare up some fae someplace if you want to check out the local pointy ears."

Thorn said, "Um.. I think I'll just stick with Shenzel for the moment if she doesn't mind."

Morin said, "I want chocolate chip!"

"Probably smart," Fantasia chuckled. "No telling what either of those are up to at any point, they were always a constant source of fun!"

She grinned at them, and they were probably inclined to remember her idea of fun and decide that the caern was indeed probably wise. They reached a Baskin Robbins and headed inside, the few patrons inside not paying them any real attention... Not surprising considering it was a group consisting of a big, blue-skinned humanoid with blunt horns and a couple of what looked like satyrs...

Goldentail hopped around up to the counter and babbled out, "Oh! Oh! I want a scoop of mint chocolate chip, and one of chocolate, and one um, butterscotch or something!"

Thorn snickered softly. Morin hardly noticed their company, not that anyone who had spent much time in Torn Elkandu would. Shenzel, however, seemed a bit surprised but kept quiet.

Fantasia didn't pay much attention to the strangers either, other than when the female satyr laughed with a sound like silver bells. The fae were interesting, to be sure, and the goats were more... interesting than usual. Mmm. Trolls were boring, though, nooooo sense of humor and far too serious about their honor. She went with a couple scoops of black cherry on a sugar cone, and paid for their order.

Thorn took a small cone of strawberry and turned away to look around the room a bit. Not like this was any stranger than some of the places she had been. Goldentail somehow became even more bouncy and excited than she already was.

Fantasia headed over for a table by the window to wait for the arrival of the escort. She waited for the others, taking an absent lick from her cone, then said, "I remember when you didn't see the fae, even right after the Awakening. Looks like people have gotten past the stage of either hounding or hunting them. That's cool, they can do some really neat things."

Morin licked at his ice cream hungrily saying, "Mmm..."

Shenzel sat quietly and looked out the window.

Thorn said, "What? Pixies? Where?"

"Dunno if they have pixies or not," Fantasia said. "I always thought those were spirits rather than fae. Trolls and satyrs like those over there, elves and knockers, redcaps, sluagh, probably some others I've never heard of."

Thorn blinked for a moment. "The Elkandu generally only call 'fae' the kind with wings, generally. Pixies, sprites, faeries. Well, I suppose they include leprechauns and brownies in that definition too..."

"We don't call em anything, _they're_ the ones who decided on it," Fantasia replied. "Apparently goes way back in time when they were linked into the elements or something. Then humans came along and screwed everything up, as per usual, and they ended up part of legend when they vanished... other than changelings, natch."

"If you say so," Thorn said, shrugging. "Not like half of what the Elkandu do makes sense anyway."

Fantasia grinned. "Doesn't make any more sense what humans of any flavor do here, either, but that's what keeps things interesting. How boring would it be if you weren't left wondering what's going on now and then?" She took a break to lick at the melting sides of her ice cream.

Thorn shrugged. "Whatever."

Goldentail said, "Ah, stop being a stick in the mud!" She bounced over to one of the other patrons in the building and said cheerfully, "Hi there!" and waved, and almost lost an ice cream scoop.

Fantasia grinned at Thorn, her own sentiment echoing Goldy's a little, then went "Ack!" and nearly drops what's left of her cone as her cell phone yipped for attention... literally, it sounded like a fox. She scrambled for the thing and drags it out, then groans as she saw the number, "How did you..." she began, then broke off and looked guilty suddenly as she meekly answered the voice at the other end, "Yes sir," and set to listening.

The fae weren't the least disturbed by the interruption, other than the troll possibly as he took a look at the bubbly kitsune, hmphed grumpily and returned to the huge sundae he was been eating. Her energy was welcomed by the satyrs, though, and they shared a look between them before turning their attention to her.

"Well hello there," the female offered in a smoky, sultry tone that was clearly quite natural, "Who're you?"

"I'm Goldentail!" she said brightly, waving her golden tails for emphasis. Then she caught her ice cream scoop and slurps it up a bit, getting a bit of chocolate on her fur. "Ack."

"I'm Lyn," the female responded, smiling a bit, then introduced the male satyr and troll in turn. "That wastrel would be my brother Finn," who winked and grinned, "And tall, dark, and stodgy is Xander." She arched a brow, looking Goldy over with frank appraisal. "An odd enough occurrence in the modern day, but I have to wonder just _what_ you are. Can't say I've seen anyone quite like you other than a chimerae."

Fantasia continued the call, occasionally managing a coherent reply but more often being interrupted by whoever was on the other end. Oddly enough, that didn't seem to make her angry.

"I'm a kitsune, of course!" Goldentail said, trying to get the chocolate out of her fur but only succeeding in getting more ice cream on herself. "Oh dear."

Lyn laughed lightly at the stranger's predicament, then proceeded to show just how close to legend the satyrs were as she leaned over to lend a tongue to the task without a hint of self-consciousness or inhibition. Finn just lifted a brow and smirked, while Xander looks scandalized... which in turn drew a bright, deep laugh from Finn.

"Ooh!" Goldentail said, giggling softly. Morin glanced over and blushed. Goldentail almost dropped her ice cream cone.

The satyr licked her lips, then leaned back in her seat with a smile, "There, much better, all clean."

A gaze flickered in Morin's direction, an almost supernatural affinity with emotions drawing her gaze and eliciting a burble of amusement. Their kind of fae were completely and utterly without inhibition or shame when it came to anything sensual or sexual, and their every movement reflected it.

Lyn looked back at Goldy. "So, a kitsune, and here I thought they were all over in Japan, imagine my surprise." She waved to a spare seat at the table. "Won't you join us?"

Finn piped up, "Oh yes, please do."

While Xander helpfully grunted.

"Sure!" Goldentail said cheerfully, taking a seat and licking her ice cream cone again, then she stopped, extracted a hair from it, then licked it again.

Fantasia meanwhile, finished her broken conversation and closed the phone with a look of chagrin, which only deepened as she noticed the mess left by the forgotten ice cream cone. She made a face and went to get some napkins, having completed missed that anything had been happening in the interim.

"Been in town long?" Finn broke in on his sister's monopolization of this intriguing new element, earning him a smirk from his sib. "I simply can't believe that we haven't heard of something so delightfully new and interesting."

"Nope! Just got here," Goldentail said, grinning. "Came in with them over there." She gestured vaguely at the table the others were sitting at.

"Reeeally now?" Finn replied, glancing over at Lyn with a quirked grin, then back to Goldy. "What do you think of our humble little home? Or have you seen much of it yet?"

"Nope, haven't seen much, not much, no." She crunched on her ice cream cone and managed to get melted ice cream on her paw.

Xander hmphed, not oblivious in the least to the other fae, and gruffly said, "Better run now before they sink their hooks into you."

Lyn smacked him sharply on the arm with a laugh. "Who said anything about hooks, you lummox? We're just being sociable, although..." She smiled, turning back to Goldy. "We wouldn't mind showing you some of the sights, if you wanted." She noticed the chocolate, but behaved this time. Innocence!

"Oh, that'd be fun!" Goldentail said, finishing up her ice cream cone and licking off her paw.

Xander just shook his head and stood up, muttering to himself as he stalked out of the building, heading off to sign in for his duty shift at the local precinct. Satyrs were incorrigible, but he did try now and then to get some semblance of sense pounded into their skulls.

Lyn giggled at the gruff departure, then smiled broadly at Goldy. "Oh, this _will_ be fun, won't it?" She glanced at her brother.

He nodded with an agreeing grin. "Oh yes indeed! We'll simply _have_ to show her off at court along the way, of course, though the stuffed shirts there probably won't even appreciate the delicious opportunity!"

As Xander was walking out, a hovercar drew up to the curb and a man who looked more like a teenager hopped out and headed for the shop's door. He came inside, mirrored sunglasses turning to take a look around, then he checked an instrument at his wrist and headed over toward Fantasia and crew.

"Hello," he offered with a thin smile, "I'm here to pick someone up...?"

"They sent a wise guy?" Fantasia giggled, looking over the finely-tailored suit and expensive accessories, "So what's your name?"

"Keytar," he replied. "You'd be Fantasia, then? I was told to look for you."

"Yep, that's me," she replied with a nod, though his name drew an intrigued look... odd for a Glass Walker to have a name of a music instrument as a pack name, but she marked that for later and looks to Shenzel and Thorn. "These two are the ones you'll be taking back, though."

Thorn waved at him a little nervously. Shenzel glanced him over briefly and said, "Hello."

"Don't worry, wise guys don't bite," Fantasia grinned. "It's in their contracts, no biting required, they prefer to shoot things."

Keytar grinned at that, obviously a little too young and fresh to the outfit to have gotten the real distant personality down yet. "Hey, it's a living. So..." He looked at his two future passengers. "You ready to head out? Got about a twenty minute ride ahead of us, should arrive just in time for dinner... and I think it's the special ribs on the menu tonight."

Fantasia groaned theatrically. "Oh that's no fair! They finally got the recipe out of the 'owlers, and not only are they serving the first night back but I have to miss em! Grrrr..." She muttered something about bad timing, and some other incomprehensible things under her breath.

"Sucks to be you," he replied remorselessly, it wasn't going to be _him_ missing out after all. "Ready to melt some road?"

"Certainly," Thorn said. Shenzel looked at the contraption a bit nervously as if it was going to eat her. Thorn glanced sidelong at her with a touch of a smirk.

Keytar gathered his charges and shepherded them toward the door, but paused as they went out. "Oh yeah, I'd like to get you to sign a CD or two if you get a chance some time..." he directed to Fantasia.

She was mollified entirely by the recognition, and grinned. "Sure, I'd love to!"

He grinned back, then headed out to get the car back on the road to the sept.

"What's a CD?" Shenzel said as she followed after him, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Thorn kept quietly smirking faintly some more as they stepped out the door. Not, she mused, like she had much more idea what was going on than poor Shenzel.

Back at the shop, the satyrs were chatting amiably about all the things and places they could show Goldy. Goldentail obliviously let herself get dragged off.

Fantasia had a momentary thought of warning the kitsune about the fae, but grinned and left it for her to find out on her own.

Lyn and Finn happily took charge of Goldy, and really weren't planning anything deceitful or harmful in any way. Of course their ideas of amusement would partially mesh with her own, favoring a good joke as well as any other fae, but other parts, well... they'd see. Finn had stopped by the other table before leaving to make sure that there was a way to contact her friends, but otherwise they vanished into the waking nightlife quite happily.


End file.
